Answers to Ian’s Trivialus 7 December 2025
Answers
Ostrich
It describes content that is engineered to provoke indignation. Designed to drive traffic to a website or social media account. The Economist’s word of the year is “slop” which has been around since the 15th century, but currently refers to the vast amounts of drivel that are clogging up the internet because of generative AI. The newspaper foresees that as platforms becoming swamped with slop, either content platforms will need to get serious about content moderation or else users will shut them off.
Kepi
James Joyce
Warner Bros – it successfully outbid rivals Comcast and Paramount Skydance to take control of franchises such as Harry Potter and Game of Thrones as well as the steaming service HBO Max.
The colour red.
Denmark and Germany
A decision to allow Israel to compete in the event has resulted in Ireland, Spain, The Netherlands and Slovenia pulling out. Several other countries are expected to follow suit.
Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers.
The fear of long words. This is known to arise when one fears embarrassment, or being mocked, when pronouncing, or reading, long words.
Six
As being Pro-Putin.
A UK glider designed for carrying troops and cargo.
David Bowie – Aladdin Sane.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri from McLaren, and Max Verstappen from Red Bull. All three drivers have 7 wins so far this year.
c) – Dutch, from jacht meaning hunt.
b) – nylon-bristled toothbrush which appeared in 1938 followed by ladies’ stockings in the next year.
False – Mars may look like a sphere, but it’s closer to the shape of a rugby ball than a football. Technically, it is a triaxial ellipsoid with different sizes along all three axes. Scientists are not sure why this is the case.
a) – Le Verrier proved mathematically that Neptune existed, so he needs to be credited with its discovery. Johann Gottfried Galle was the first to observe it working from Le Verrier’s calculations in 1842. It had been observed before by Galileo (in 1612) and by John Herschel (in 1830) but at these times the observers assumed it was a star.
Pampas